


At Dusk, I Will Think of You

by Noble_Nook



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Valentine's Day, ladrien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 05:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17781827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noble_Nook/pseuds/Noble_Nook
Summary: Ladybug comes to Adrien with an important question on Valentine’s Day.





	At Dusk, I Will Think of You

Ladybug let out a deep sigh for the first time since she’d left her  _other_  job and started hummed in thought as she perched on the corner of a rooftop. From her position, she stared down the Agreste Mansion, thinking on her situation and weighing her options. **  
**

She’d found herself faced with a bit of a problem. She hadn’t yet seen Adrien today given just how late she’d worked, something that made her almost wish for an Akuma attack, and had spent the last week or two trying to psyche herself up to ask him something important.

She wanted to ask him out.

Not only that, but she knew some holidays were rougher on him than others and she wasn’t quite sure yet if Valentine’s Day was one of them yet. The idea that he may be holed up in his bedroom, alone and distressed on what was meant to be a happy, loving day definitely didn’t sit well with her.

Given just how hard it had been to formulate some sort of sentence that would actually  _succeed_ in asking him out that didn’t sound like gibberish, she’d settle for checking on him as her excuse. It would at least buy her time while she figured out how to word her feelings, if nothing else.

But then, _maybe_  it wasn’t the best idea to rush through Paris with the sole purpose of otherwise randomly checking on Adrien Agreste.  _Maybe_  showing up at his doorstep unannounced and totally out of the blue would raise a few eyebrows, especially given how busy the city was. It most  _certainly_  wasn’t the most rational response she could have had to losing track of time during the workday but still wanting to be with him regardless.

It was times like this she wished she’d gone through with getting a second phone, as simply asking him out through a text message would have probably been easier than this. She’d have to remember to do that whenever she had the chance.

After shaking her head to get back on track and some further deliberation, Ladybug leaped down from her perch and landed on the other side of the Agreste’s gate and took a breath. For as close as they’d become, she’d actually never used the front door to get into his house whenever she came specifically to see him. 

Mostly because it’d be difficult to explain to anyone, be them a nosy civilian or a news anchor, why she was there without going into details about their...relationship, whatever it currently was.

It started out as a friendship for sure. A few saves here and there led to conversations and before long, he’d actually outright asked her over for dinner. Much to her own surprise at the time, she managed to accept and ended up having the best pizza she’d ever had. Since then, the two had been drifting ever closer.

What was once the occasional glance in the street during the day had turned into late night visits, which gradually turned into early morning visits. It had even reached the point of outright hand holding, though that usually only happened away from the public eye. The only problem is that she, and likely he, wasn’t sure what they were anymore.

Which is why it was easy to start wondering what his reaction would be once he answered the door. Even as she knocked, she found herself hit with a twinge of concern mixed with fear and her mind began to race. Questions of what he considered them to be jolted through head only to give way to what his reaction to this possibly forward and blunt gesture would be. 

Then she wondered if maybe he wouldn’t like that she was using the front door, though that only led to her giving some deep thought to sneaking her way in through his bathroom window.

Her various trains of though screeched to a halt when the doorknob started to jiggle in front of her. Instinctively, she stepped back some just as it opened, placed one hand on her hip and put on her best _I totally know what I’m doing_  face.

“Oh, Ladybug?” Adrien, wearing sweatpants and a shirt that seemed a size or two too big for him, seemed to perk up some after blinking a few times, as if he needed to make sure he was really standing in front of him. “I would have put something nice on if I knew you were coming, but, uh, what’re you doing here?”

“I, um…” Ladybug stalled for a moment, realizing that she hadn’t quite thought of a good reason for her to simply appear. There was an obvious answer, that she was hoping to celebrate the holiday with him, but those words didn’t seem to want to form. “I was just in the neighborhood and since today’s Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d swing in for a bit, maybe see how you were doing and...ask you something.”

The _and so I nearly invited myself in through the open window in your bathroom to ask you out on a date and make sure you weren’t sad_  part didn’t seem to come out.

“Ah, well, thank you.” A subtle blush formed on his cheeks that lit up his otherwise tired expression. “But I’m okay, I think. Would you like to come in?”

“You _think_?” Ladybug seemed to cock an eyebrow and stepped inside some. “I don’t wanna pry or anything, but if you’re not sure, then...I’m all ears.”

Adrien seemed to give it some thought while he played with the drawstrings of his pants.

“I guess it has been kind of a long day, y’know? Like, I’ve busy with piano practice and classwork and booking flights for modeling stuff and...you probably don’t care about all that.” He gave a halfhearted chuckle, looking away with an equally unconvincing smirk and a hand on the back of his neck.

“No, I…” Ladybug put her hand around his, acting mostly on impulse. “I do care, Adrien. Like I told you, I’m here.”

“I, um,” Adrien swallowed, trying his best not to turn to mush amid the bright shade of red that coated his face. “Right, but, uh, that’s about it honestly. I was actually passed out in the kitchen when you knocked, so.”

“Aw, that’s, erm. I mean, I can always come back if you’re tired, I just thought I’d check in is all.” Ladybug smiled back, feeling a sense of elation and relief in his reassurances.

“Didn’t you have something to ask me?” Adrien spoke while he stretched out.

“Oh, that, well…” It was Ladybug’s turn to blush. The right words weren’t coming to mind, so she needed to stall. “It’s nothing important, really, so I should probably let you sleep.”

“Ah-ah, Bugaboo.” Adrien softly muttered, easing a hand onto her shoulder. “You wouldn’t have come through the front door if it wasn’t at least a  _little_  important.”

 _I **knew**  I should have checked the bathroom window_. She cursed herself and then tried her best to get the thought lodged in her mind out.

“I guess I was just thinking that, if you wanted to, maybe we could, y’know,” Ladybug stuttered and stumbled for a moment. “Go for a swing?”

She couldn’t quite think of anything smoother in the moment, so that would have to suffice in the  _ask him out_  department.

“So that’s why you’re really here.” Adrien teasingly snickered. “Did you have somewhere in mind?”

“Honestly?” Ladybug decided it best to calm down some, be a bit more direct and truthful. “No, I don’t. I’m kind of making this up as I go along.”

“Ah.” Adrien gave a slight snicker, having probably already figured that out by now. “Well, I didn’t have anything else planned for tonight, so I guess I’m up for anything.”

“Would it be cheesy to take you to the top of the Eiffel Tower?” Ladybug playfully shrugged.

“Maybe just a little bit,” Adrien warmly chuckled and leaned towards a nightstand to retrieve his wallet. “But I like cheese, so...”

“So it’s a yes?” Ladybug stepped back outside and offered him a hand.

“Only if we can grab some ice cream on the way.” Adrien laughed warmly, easing his arm around her shoulder. “I’d offer something fancier, but I kinda don’t wanna change clothes.”

“It’s a-” Ladybug cleared her throat to get a sudden lump out while grabbing him tightly by the waist. They’d hung out together for hours on end at this point, become so much closer than she would have ever expected, and yet it was still hard to call it what it really was.

What it’d always been.

“ _It’s a date._ ”

\---------------------------------------------

“Y’know, I could have totally paid for this.” Ladybug swung her feet over the edge of the tower, admiring the tinted veil of night that had slowly crept up over the night sky before returning her attentions to him. To her date.

“I don’t doubt it.” Adrien replied, taking a few licks of his strawberry ice cream. “But it’s the least I could do after you asked me out.”

“Heh, right.” Ladybug’s face felt warm amid the cool breeze blowing through the sky, opting to delay her inevitably flustered and timid response by tending to her own stick of mint ice cream.

Before she could even try to muster such a response, however, Adrien took her place.

“I know this wasn’t too, uh...romantic or anything, and I’m sorry for not planning anything in advance,” He struggled to stop from muttering or rambling. “I’m really glad we got to go out, together, even if it was just to the ice cream stand.”

“Oh? Um, of course, I’m happy, too.” Ladybug wasn’t quite sure how to reply or where he was going with this. “And don’t forget, the top of the Eiffel Tower, too.”

“Yeah, right.” Adrien took a soft bite out of his ice cream. “But, what I mean to say is...I guess there’s been something on my mind lately, and I...I was so busy today that I didn’t think I’d get a chance to ask.”

“Hm?” Ladybug’s heart rate seemed to jump and she was glad she’d nearly finished her treat as it might have been dropped otherwise. Her mind started going a mile a minute again with as many different possibilities even as he worked his way through his thoughts next to her.

“Well, we’ve been hanging out for like, two years now, and...I know I don’t technically know who you are, but…” He blushed, moving over slightly until his hand was gently laying on top of hers as if she were a lighting rod for his scattered, nervous mind. As always, she made him feel at ease. She made him feel strong.

“What I’m trying to ask is,” Adrien took in a deep breath, his eyes focused solely on hers. “Would you like to go out with me?”

“We, er, we kinda already are out.” Ladybug nervously chuckled, immediately shaking her head to try and prevent herself from ruining the moment.

“No, I mean, do you want to be my...girlfriend?” Adrien’s voice seemed to linger on the word. “It might be hard, y’know, since we’re both kinda famous and all that, and-”

“Yes.” Ladybug answered, leaning in closer. “I...I would like that very much, Adrien.”

Adrien smiled the way he always did, with warmth and light so bright it melted her heart. He somewhat flinched, unsure of what to do next though it wasn’t like she was any better in that regard, so silence quickly fell.

Ladybug took a breath of her own and placed her ice cream stick down beside her. What would otherwise be considered rational thought again left her, leaving her with nothing but impulse. An impulse that told her to lean further towards him.

Both matched one another’s movements even if they weren't totally aware that that’s what they were doing. It simply felt natural to do so in the moment, just as natural as it felt when whatever distance between them was filled and their lips finally met.

The kiss took its time, slowly getting deeper and more passionate while one of Ladybug’s hands reached around to the back of his head and one of Adrien’s ended up on her face. The sound of warm wind blowing mixed with their heartbeats, like the flavors of their ice cream swirled together in each other’s mouth.  

Ladybug eventually released him with a prolonged exhale through her nose, as if she had to come up for air. No words came to her mind, but the shine of the sun fading on the horizon colored his face, her boyfriend’s face, with a comfortable glow that kept a smile stretched across hers.

Adrien, on the other hand, rested his forehead to hers, sliding his gentle grasp back to one of her pigtails. His heart was still going a mile a minute, as he figured hers likely was, pulsing with what he could only describe as pure joy, as a hole in it seemed to finally be filled.

Twilight painted the sky above them, stars buried among the clouds and twinkling subtly. Such a sight would have been captivating, had she not already found herself lost in Adrien’s loving gaze. Dim streaks of sunlight swirled and mixed with the coming darkness in a way that reflected on the material of Ladybug’s mask and lit up her eyes.

They’d shared such a gorgeous view a million times by now, spent so many hours lingering on one another, but the sight hadn’t gotten old.

It never would.


End file.
